Soul Stone (Infinity Victory)
The Soul Stone is one of the six Infinity Stones, the remnant of a singularity that predates the universe. For some time, it was kept on the planet Vormir under the watchful eye of the Stonekeeper, before Thanos came to the planet in search of it, heart-breakingly sacrificing his daughter Gamora to obtain it. History Creation The Soul Stone is a remnant of one of the six singularities which existed before the universe's creation. After the universe came into existence, four cosmic beings known as the Cosmic Entities forged the energies of these singularities into six immensely powerful objects called the Infinity Stones. The Soul Stone represented the soul. The Soul Stone would go on to cultivate a reputation of mystery throughout the galaxy. Even to those who were well versed and knowledgeable in how to use the powers, and even on the locations, of the other five Stones had no concrete knowledge regarding the Soul Stone, with only Thanos, who was considered the greatest master on the Infinity Stones, having any degree of understanding of it's power from centuries of research, but even the Mad Titan had little knowledge on it's location, only knowing that the Stone was contained inside the Temple of Soulcycle and that it rotated through planets to find the safest place possible for it to lay. Despite, or perhaps because of, this aura of mystery, due to it's reputed control over the very cycle of life and death, the Soul Stone would eventually be considered as the most dangerous of all the Infinity Stones. Guarded by the Stonekeeper The Soul Stone and the Temple's eternal shifts of planets eventually stopped when it found its way to Vormir. In 1945, the Space Stone banished the Red Skull to the planet after he had abused its power, knowing the HYDRA commander would be unable to make the sacrifice required to obtain the Soul Stone. The Skull was forced to become the guard of the Soul Stone, which resided in the Temple's center chamber and the defenses on the Soul Stone was made so that only someone who proved his worth to wield the Stone by sacrificing someone they loved can wield it, with the Stone specifically being designed to have no power until the wielder sacrificed someone they love. Eventually accepting his deserved fate but still desiring for eternal rest, having been transformed into what he deemed a Cursed being with no hope of salvation, the Skull patiently waited for someone to be worthy of the Soul Stone so the wielder can finally put him to rest. As Thanos began his quest for the Stones, he sent the Black Order to scout the locations of the artifacts. Gamora and Nebula eventually tracked the Soul Stone down to Vormir only to conceal its location from Thanos with Gamora burning the map that had led them to it, though not before she had memorized its location. Thanos easily deduced that Gamora had located the Soul Stone, which he attributed later on to her poor skill in lying, but allowed her to believe she had duped him for the time being. Infinity War Located by Thanos In 2018, Loki said to Doctor Strange that Thanos knows the Soul Stone's powers more than anyone and reveals that the Soul Stone is the most important out of all of the Infinity Stones that is needed as while he does need all the Stones to wipe out half the universe, the Soul Stone plays the most crucial role as it is the one that makes resurrection not an option due to the Soul Stone wiping out the souls from existence. After capturing his daughter, Thanos revealed to Gamora that he had never been fooled by her claims of never finding the Soul Stone and managed to force her to divulge the Soul Stone's location by ruthlessly torturing Nebula, taking her with him to Vormir. As they entered the Temple, Thanos was approached by the Stonekeeper, who explained that the only way for him to wield the Soul Stone is for Thanos to sacrifice someone he loved in order to gain the stone by throwing them into the Void in the Altar of Souls. Thanos then tearfully threw Gamora into the Void and the Soul Stone appeared before Thanos and entered Thanos's body. A bright light emerged and knocked out Thanos, sending him to the Soul Stone's pocket dimension where the Stone lay and said to the unconcincious Thanos as it began fusing the Stone into Thanos: You are the only one worthy.... To possess all six Infinity Stones. The Universe bestow upon you authority over the fabrics of existence. Use it to your leisure, Thanos, Son of Alars and Father of Gamora. In Thanos's Possession Although no longer in need of the Gauntlet, Thanos, unaware of what happened, kept it as he believed he still needed it to use the Stones and the Skull asked him to finally free him from his torment with the Soul Stone. Agreeing, Thanos unleashed the full power of the Soul Stone upon the Stonekeeper, finally granting him the peace he desires. As a reward, the Skull indirectly hinted that Thanos no longer needed the Gauntlet, saying that Your worth has been proven. Think about it. During the Battle of Titan, as Thanos was being overwhelmed, the Soul Stone spoke to Thanos and made him finally realise he no longer needed the Gauntlet or even his hands to channel the powers of the Infinity Stones as he had fused with the Stones and they are forever his to command. Hence, he effortlessly overpowered Mantis's sleep powers using the Soul Stone to shock her to unconcinciousness by attacking her soul and threw her away soon after and then crushed the Gauntlet, much to the heroes's shock, as he accepted his destiny and became determined to not let Gamora die in vain, and soon broke out of the heroes's hold. As Thanos repelled the heroes's charge with a powerful blast that combined the Soul and Power Stones through his body, which Doctor Strange protected from Iron Man and Spider Man from, Nebula realized in horror that the Soul Stone contributed to this as it must have found Thanos worthy of the Stones and made him and the Stones one as she becomes unconcincious from having her soul attacked. Thanos then used the Soul Stone to see which one is the true Doctor Strange out of the thousand replicas he conjured with his magic and then repelled the assault with a blast from the Soul Stone, sundering the Sorcerer's Astral form out of his body until the latter regained control but it stunned him enough that Thanos managed to levitate and grab him while pulling Strange to him. Later, Thanos used the Soul Stone to send out beams of yellow energy at Iron Man, which Doctor Strange blocked and warned the hero that being hit by those beams mean instant death and his armor are useless as it targets the soul, not the body. Although Iron Man avoided such a fate, he was about to have his soul removed and absorbed by the Soul Stone after Thanos swiftly defeated him and grabbed him until Strange surrendered the Time Stone to him so he would spare the defeated Avenger, which Thanos accepted just as Tony was dessicating and he absorbed the Time Stone and left for Earth. When Thanos arrived in Wakanda, he used the Soul Stone liberally without restraint, using it to absorb some of the Dora Milaje souls, summoned yellow bolts from the skies that instantly killed dozens of Wakandans, projected balls and beams of energy that broke through the shields used by Wakandans, and finally to destroy Quill's soul in a merciful act to grant him reunion with Gamora and his loved ones when he grabbed and channeled the Soul Stone into Quill, much to the horror and rage of Drax and Nebula. His most famous use was to overpower Thor's electrical beam with a beam from the Soul Stone, stunning him. He later used the Soul Stone to resurrect Vision while the Time Stone recreate the Mind Stone as a form of respect for Scarlet Witch's loss before killing him again and absorbing the Mind Stone. Even after Thor almost killed Thanos at nearly the cost of his own life, as Thanos impaled Thor with his bare hands as Thor stabbed him with Stormbreaker, which the Asgardian King, unpertubed, defiantly ignored and pushed the axe as deep as he could, Thanos managed to survive the attack and use all the Stones to wipe out half the universe, with the Soul Stone playing a large role in it by it erasing the souls of the victims, preventing any resurrection. Thanos briefly entered the Soul Stone where he saw Gamora in her child form. Thanos excitingly told her he honored her sacrifice and completed his goal before growing somber when Gamora remained silent until Gamora sadly smiled and says You won, daddy-o. You saved the Universe, while we lost. I guess I have to accept that. Thanos sadly smiles as he returns to normal consciousness. Thanos's last use of the Soul Stone was to gather the souls of his fallen allies while retreating via a large portal. As Thanos peacefully and warmly gazed out at the rising sun after he resurrected all his allies, Gamora, seemingly unable to leave the Soul Stone and permanently trapped, sadly smiled at the dimension's sun and humbly bowed down, apparently being the first hero to accept defeat. Capabillities As one of the six Infinity Stones, the Soul Stone ranks as the most powerful artifact in creation. However, as it governs over the fabric of soul, it is considered the most dangerous of the Infinity Stones due to the fact that the Soul Stone not only has absolute control over souls but it also grants its wielder dominion over life and death, giving the wielder the divine right to decide who lives and who dies. While the other Infinity Stones all possess a degree of sentience to a certain extent, the Soul Stone is unique in that it can seem to operate independently of a host, with a modicum of intelligence and purpose not exhibited by any of the other Stones. Uniquely, in its shrine on Vormir, the Stone purposefully imposed a terrible price to test the worthiness of those who would try to claim it - only upon the sacrifice of the soul of a precious loved one to the Stone, would it finally present itself to a wielder. Aside from placing a price upon its own retrieval, the Soul Stone possessed other capabilities that imply a level of wisdom not shared by the other Stones. It is capable of cursing others, turning them into a wraith-like creature and granting them immortality and instant knowledge in certain occasions, as shown after the Red Skull was banished to Vormir by the Space Stone, the Soul Stone was able to use its power to force the former HYDRA leader to become its eternal keeper and a guide to all who would try to claim it. The Stone's power cursed him to become an immortal, ethereal wraith, bestowing him with the power to gain perfect knowledge of all beings who journeyed to the Stone's altar, and the knowledge required to guide said beings to its retrieval. It was also able to construct the Temple of Soulcycle and transport said temple to other dimensions. It has a consciousness and can speak to it's wielder and guide and help it, as the Soul Stone was able to fuse the Stones with Thanos and was later able to guide him into realizing his new power. Due to it's esoteric powers, Wong said that very few had any understanding of the Soul Stone's capabillities. Nebula even said that Thanos is the only one who can possibly have any understanding of it's power, which Gamora seemed to support when she said to Thor that Thanos knows more on the Soul Stone than any other seeker of the Stones. Thanos himself later confirms this, saying that he had researched the Soul Stone more extensively than any other and he got more knowledge on it than any other expert on the Infinity Stones. However, the full extent of Thanos's mastery of the Soul Stone until he underwent the Revolution by realizing that he has fused with the Stones remains unknown but it is certain that he has a level of skill with it, as he displays being able to use the Soul Stone to destroy what remained of Red Skull and grant him his rest. After Thanos finally understands that he has merged with the Stones and no longer needs the Gauntlet, his mastery and understanding reached it's peak and he began using it liberally. Whenever he uses the Soul Stone, Thanos first manifests a orange circular seal that he aims at the target. Thanos became able to project the Soul Stone's power over souls in the form of orange electrical-like energy projections that kills everyone that gets hit and it also penerates armors and regular energy shields, which Doctor Strange attributed due to it attacking the soul rather than the physical. It is implied that even magical shields cannot block it, as Strange had to tap into Dark Magic to deflect one beam, but it seems that while possessing immense destructive lethality and power, if blocked by another energy beam, it can be reduced to simply causing pain to their souls, as while Thanos's electrical beam quickly overpowered Thor's Stormbreaker thunder blast, it only caused Thor to feel excruciating pain but it was enough that he felt to his knees, later describing it as feeling like his soul was on fire, and was stunned enough that Thanos was able to use the Time Stone to freeze him before he could react. Thanos can also absorb and destroy souls, killing the bearer of the soul and causing their body to dessicate and turn to ash. He seems to be able to decide how painful it is, as while Iron Man screamed in pain and was slowly turning into a mummified corpse as Thanos began absorbing his soul until Strange interrupted, Quill died much more quickly without showing any pain. Thanos can also resurrect others instead of killing them with the Soul Stone by recalling their soul back to their body, as shown when he resurrected Vision while silmutaneously recreating the Mind Stone with the Time Stone. He also can sense the soul of others, as he was able to tell which Strange is real out of thousands as the Sorcerer did not duplicate his soul. Perhaps its most perplexing feature, the Soul Stone also contains a mysterious pocket dimension, consisting entirely of an infinite expanse of shallow water underneath a dim orange sky, where the soul of the person sacrificed resides and can be communicated with. After Thanos forced himself to use the power of all six Infinity Stones to kill half of all life in the Universe despite having already been badly wounded by Stormbreaker, the sheer power needed to achieve such a feat nearly overwhelmed him in his weakened state, casting his soul briefly into the world of the Soul Stone. Within, Thanos's soul encountered and could communicate with a reflection of the soul of his daughter Gamora, whom he had sacrificed to the Stone. While Thanos's soul was represented as his current, unarmored form, but without the Gauntlet or his near-fatal injury from Stormbreaker, Gamora's soul was represented as a child, standing under a Zen-Whoberi archway, implying that the sacrifice and the dimension's appearance changes into the form that the bearer most wanted to see. After Thanos absorbed all the Stones, it's powers over souls became so much more potent that it grants Thanos the power to erase the souls of others from existence on a universal scale at whim, which remained at full potential regardless of Thanos's physical condition, as even with Thanos severely wounded by an all-out assault from Thor wielding Stormbreaker, he still proved able to use all six Stones to wipe out half the universe with a simple snap of his fingers, with the Soul Stone destroying the souls of the victims.